PANAMA CITY, Fla.— The Latest on the impact of Hurricane Michael’s destructive path across the southeastern U.S. (all times local): 8:10 p.m.

An insurance company that produces models for catastrophes is estimating Hurricane Michael caused about $8 billion in insured losses.

Boston-based Karen Clark & Company released the estimate Thursday. It includes the privately insured wind and storm surge damage to residential, commercial and industrial properties and automobiles. The figure does not include losses covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Michael made landfall as a 155 mph (250 kph), Category 4 storm Wednesday afternoon in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane left a path of destruction through the Florida Panhandle and entered Georgia as a Category 3 storm. KCC estimates that nearly half of insured loss from Michael

occurred in Florida’s Bay and Gulf counties. Total damages from storm surge are estimated to be $3.7 billion, of which about ten percent will be insured.

7:30 p.m.

Fast-moving Michael was leaving North Carolina behind with rivers rising and more than 530,000 households in the dark.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said the power outages were concentrated in central North Carolina’s Piedmont region, as trees and power lines toppled under the pressure of winds of up to 60 mph (97 kph). Heavy rains dumping up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) in some areas were making flooding a serious threat.

Flash flooding was snarling the state’s two largest cities, Charlotte and Raleigh, as well as the university town of Chapel Hill. Dozens of swift water rescues and evacuations were needed in the Piedmont region as well as the state’s mountains and foothills.

A spokesman with the Florida Department of Children and Families says Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee has been running on emergency generators. A helicopter dropped water and food at the facility on Thursday after a tree downed during the storm caused a water line to break.

Landlines and cellphones are also down at the hospital, which has nearly 1,000 residents and more than 300 staff. Staff are using emergency radios to stay in contact with first responders.

Many roads in and around the facility are blocked, but 50 staff from two other state mental health facilities are being brought in to assist.

Patients at the facility have been committed involuntarily either through civil or criminal cases.

The National Weather Service said the storm was centered about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Raleigh at 5 p.m. Thursday and heading northeast at 24 mph (39 kph) with winds of up to 50 mph (80 kph). It was expected to keep on the same track but head even faster and cross into Virginia during the evening.

Michael was sending dangerous wind gusts over portions of Virginia and central and eastern North Carolina.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 230 miles (370 kilometers) mainly over water to the southeast of the center.

5:10 p.m.

North Carolina’s electric utilities reported over 390,000 outages at 5 p.m., as a weakened but still formidable Michael gusted through the state.

A large number of the power outages were in a swath from Greensboro and Winston-Salem southwest to Charlotte. Duke Energy alone reported about 307,000 of these outages.

Earlier Thursday, North Carolina authorities said a driver has died after a tree fell on his car as Michael’s wind and rain lashed the state. It happened in Iredell County, north of Charlotte, where authorities have reported strong winds and numerous roads closed by flash flooding.

The storm came ashore on Florida’s Gulf coast as a Category 4 hurricane before weakening to tropical storm status over Georgia.

3:50 p.m.

After reports of several possible tornadoes touching down in Georgia, National Weather Service crews are going out to examine the sites.

Weather Service meteorologist Matt Sena said Thursday they include sites in Pike, Peach and Crawford counties and an area near Atlanta in Fulton County.

In Roberta, in Crawford County, Hill Bentley said he saw spinning clouds that looked like a tornado Wednesday.

“I told my wife, Judy, ‘Come on out, you want to see what a tornado looks like?'”

Bentley’s home wasn’t hit, but his friend Bradley Lewis wasn’t so lucky. Dozens of fallen pines littered Lewis’ front and back yards and his roof and back porch were damaged, but he was uninjured.

“Kaboom! Like the world moved or something,” Lewis said of the moment when the trees snapped while he sheltered inside.

3:30 p.m.

North Carolina authorities say a driver has died after a tree fell on his car as Michael’s wind and rain lashed the state.

The accident happened in Iredell County, north of Charlotte, where authorities have reported strong winds and numerous roads closed by flash flooding.

Kent Greene, the county’s director of emergency management and fire services, said in an email that the man died Thursday after his car was struck by a tree on a highway east of Statesville.

Greene confirmed the death was storm-related. He wasn’t able to immediately release the man’s age or identity.

The sheriff’s office has urged people to stay off the roads until the storm and its after-effects clear.

Meanwhile, the state is reporting nearly 220,000 power outages, with many in the Charlotte area.

2:15 p.m.

Forecasters say Tropical Storm Michael is speeding over the Carolinas on its way to the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center says the storm is moving northeast at 23 mph (37 kph) with top sustained winds have dropped to 50 mph (85 kph).

Forecasters say Michael’s heavy rains are causing flash flooding across parts of North Carolina and southern Virginia. Up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain could fall in some parts of the the two states.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the storm was centered about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Greensboro, North Carolina. It was expected to emerge over the ocean Thursday night.

1:55 p.m.

Florida’s governor is asking for a two week delay in a debate with the Democratic incumbent in the U.S. Senate race so he can focus on response and recovery from Hurricane Michael.

Scott cited “catastrophic destruction caused by Hurricane Michael,” and said he’s certain Nelson agrees the response should be a priority.

He said, “We appreciate CNN understanding the dire situation in North Florida,” and added, that Scott “will have no time for campaigning in the next few weeks as he focuses exclusively on recovery efforts for the foreseeable future.”

1:30 p.m.

Virginia’s governor has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Hurricane Michael’s remnant passing through the state.

Panama City Beach was mostly empty Thursday because residents and tourists alike heeded the evacuation order. The city had no electricity at 1 p.m. Thursday but few power lines were down.

1:10 p.m.

The power is still out for most customers in Tallahassee. People love the trees in Florida’s state capital, where canopy roads have large oak trees on both sides of some streets that branch out and meet each other above the traffic.

The area also has above-ground utility lines and often loses power when branches fall during severe storms.

Many of these trees were lost to Hurricane Michael, but the city has quickly cleared them from the busiest roadways. Grocery stores, gas stations and drug stores are open and running on generator power, traffic is busy despite police warning people to stay off the roads so utility crews can better restore power.

Base leaders say no injuries were reported, but an initial assessment found roof damage to “nearly every home” on the base, which is very near where the center of the Category 4 storm made landfall.

Col. Brian Laidlaw, commander of the 325th Fighter Wing, said on Facebook that “Tyndall residents and evacuated personnel should remain at their safe location.” His mandatory evacuation order applied to some 600 families living on the base. He later warned personnel to make plans for an extended time away.

Thousands of National Guard troops, law enforcement officers and medical teams are working their way into damaged communities to search for survivors of Hurricane Michael.

What authorities don’t want are evacuees trying to come back to check on their properties. Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford says residents aren’t being allowed past checkpoints until crews clean up downed power lines and trees.

Florida emergency officials say the devastation is so massive that it remains unclear if people who ignored evacuation orders were killed.

Authorities said that 285 people in Mexico Beach refused to leave, and many homes in that community were washed away. A National Guard team found 20 survivors there overnight and more crews were working through the wreckage on Thursday.

Hospitals and nursing homes are so damaged in the Panama City area that ambulances and helicopters are being used to ferry patients elsewhere.

Michael remained a hurricane for 12 hours and 200 miles as it moved over Florida and Georiga, and other teams are looking at reports of possible tornado damage well inland.

12:15 p.m.

Experts at the National Hurricane Center say Hurricane Michael’s devastating storm surge reached as high as 14 feet (4.27 meters) in some areas of Florida’s Gulf coast.

Officials said the highest storm surge hit near Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe, based on available observations and post-landfall models.

Officials had been warning that the surge of water pushed by the storm could be as serious as the hurricane’s punishing winds. The threat of the storm prompted local officials to order mandatory evacuations in several Florida coastal counties.

11:55 a.m.

A coroner has identified the 11-year-old girl who was killed as Hurricane Michael blew through south Georgia.

Seminole County coroner Chad Smith on Thursday identified the girl as Sarah Radney.

Smith said an official cause of death had not been determined but that it would likely be massive blunt force trauma.

Seminole County Emergency Management Agency director Travis Brooks said strong winds picked up a portable carport Wednesday and dropped it down on the roof of the home where the girl was inside. One of the carport’s legs punctured the roof and hit the girl in the head.

Seminole County is in the southwest corner of Georgia.

11:50 a.m.

The largest hospitals in Panama City are shutting down and evacuating patients due to heavy damage from Hurricane Michael. Officials at Bay Medical Sacred Heart announced that they’re transferring about 200 patients to hospitals in Pensacola and Jacksonville, and to Mobile, Alabama.

Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center says it has suspended all services and is evacuating patients as well.

Sacred Heart’s statement says the transfers began at 3 a.m. Thursday with 39 critical care patients and would take about 48 hours to complete.

Damage at Sacred Heart includes blown-out windows, a cracked exterior wall and a roof collapse in a maintenance building that stores supplies necessary for long-term care. The hospital says no patients were injured and its emergency room remains open on generator power.

11:25 p.m.

A federal judge is rejecting a push to extend Florida’s voter registration deadline because of Hurricane Michael, saying there’s “no justification” to do so.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled late Wednesday against the Florida Democratic Party, which called the Republican-led response to the storm’s disruption confusing and inadequate.

Florida’s deadline to register to vote was Tuesday, 29 days ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner told local election supervisors that if their offices were closed Tuesday due to the hurricane, then they could accept paper applications for a single day once their offices reopen.

10:55 a.m.

Most hurricanes quickly fall apart as they move over land. Not Michael. The third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the U.S. mainland carved a path of destruction for roughly 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before its top sustained winds dropped to tropical-storm strength.

The National Hurricane Center says Michael did not lose its hurricane status until early Thursday, when its winds finally dropped below 74 mph (119 kph) near Browndale in central Georgia.

Based on its internal barometric pressure, Michael was the third most powerful hurricane to make landfall, behind the unnamed Labor Day storm of 1935 and Camille in 1969. Based on wind speed, it was the fourth-strongest, behind the Labor Day storm, Camille and Andrew in 1992.

Michael had top sustained winds of 155 mph (250 kph) when it hit Mexico Beach on Wednesday.

It’s down to a tropical storm now as it moves over the Carolinas, but forecasters expect it to strengthen again once it moves over the Atlantic.

10:10 a.m.

Gov. Rick Scott says the Florida National Guard got into Mexico Beach and found 20 people who survived a direct hit from Hurricane Michael.

The town where the hurricane made landfall Wednesday remained very difficult to reach by land a day later, with roads covered by fallen trees, power lines and other storm debris.

Overhead video from a CNN helicopter Thursday morning reveals widespread devastation across the town of about 1,000 people. Entire blocks of homes near the beach have been washed away, leaving nothing but concrete slabs in the sand. Rows and rows of other homes are smashed to pieces or crunched to the ground and leaning at odd angles.

The town was under a mandatory evacuation order as the rapidly developing storm targeted the coast, but some people were determined to ride out the hurricane.

10 a.m.

Utilities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama reported that more than 932,000 customers were without power in the wake of Hurricane Michael.

Nearly half of those affected were in Florida, which bore the brunt of Michael – the most powerful storm on record to hit the state’s Panhandle. It left widespread destruction as it crossed into Georgia toward the Carolinas, a region still reeling from epic flooding in Hurricane Florence.

Michael thrashed Georgia as a hurricane and eventually weakened to a tropical storm early Thursday. Despite the downgrade, the storm was still pounding the Southeast with heavy rains, winds, and a threat of spinoff tornadoes.

9:50 a.m.

The Army Corps of Engineers is sending in generators to help get power to storm-ravaged areas, and teams to start clearing debris and begin building temporary roofs.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long said officials were just starting to go in and survey the damage but expect power to be out for weeks in some areas. Hurricane Michael made landfall in Mexico Beach, just down the coast of Panama City, and left a wide path of destruction in its wake.

Long says “Mexico Beach took the brunt, that’s probably ground zero.”

Red Cross officials say 7,800 people were in 100 shelters across three states. They said it’s still not clear how many people stayed put and would need to be rescued.

9:15 a.m.

Authorities are correcting early reports about the death of an 11-year-old girl as Hurricane Michael blew over southwest Georgia. Seminole County Emergency Management Agency director Travis Brooks said it wasn’t a tree but a carport that hit her home and killed her.

He said strong winds picked up a portable carport Wednesday and dropped it down on the roof. One of the carport’s legs punctured the roof and hit the 11-year-old girl in the head.

Brooks said he wasn’t able to get out much overnight to fully assess the damage in the county, because downed power lines and trees made roads impassable in the darkness. But he said the sheriff told him it looked like a bomb had gone off.

7:30 a.m.

Fires still burned in the early morning darkness the day after Hurricane Michael made landfall in Mexico Beach, a Florida Gulf Coast beach town that doesn’t usually get much attention. Michael pushed a 10-foot (3-meter) storm surge and 155 mph (249 kph) winds, just shy of a Category 5 hurricane, and Mexico Beach got the worst of it.

A reporter and photojournalist from the Tampa Bay Times ventured there in the dark early Thursday, finding the town of about 1,000 almost impassable. They reported seeing many destroyed homes, some with staircases leading to doors suspended 10 feet (3 meters) in the air with nothing on the other side, entire structures washed away. Refrigerators and toilets and piles of soggy furniture are strewn across properties.

And amid the wreckage, the crew spotted survivors — people who rode out the storm. One couple was looking for their mother’s portable oxygen machine. Another man was shining a flashlight from his balcony as alarms sounded and fires burned.

6:45 a.m.

The Florida Highway Patrol has closed an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 10 to clear debris from Hurricane Michael.

In an email sent early Thursday, spokesman Eddie Elmore said the road was closed “due to extremely hazardous conditions.”

The agency is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to clear the interstate which is the major east-west route across northern Florida and the Panhandle.

Elmore said the road is closed west of Tallahassee, between mile marker 85 near DeFuniak Springs and mile marker 166 near Lake Seminole.

The email didn’t say how long the work was expected to take.

5:00 a.m.

Tropical Storm Michael continues to weaken as it over eastern Georgia as it makes its way toward the Carolinas. Early Thursday, the eye of Michael was about 90 miles (144 kilometers) northeast of Macon, Georgia and 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Augusta. The storm’s maximum sustained winds have decreased to 50 mph (80 kph) and it was moving to the northeast at 21 mph (33 kph).

The National Hurricane Center says the core of Michael will move across eastern Georgia into Central South Carolina on Thursday morning. It will then move across portions of central and eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia into the Atlantic Ocean by late Thursday or early Friday.

12:00 a.m.

Hurricane Michael’s battering waves swamped streets and docks and shrieking winds splintered trees and rooftops. The most powerful hurricane on record to hit Florida’s Panhandle left widespread destruction and wasn’t finished Thursday as it crossed Georgia toward the Carolinas, a region still reeling from epic flooding in Hurricane Florence.

Authorities say at least one person died, a man hit by a falling tree on a Panhandle home.

The supercharged storm crashed ashore Wednesday afternoon amid beach resorts and coastal communities, a Category 4 monster packing 155 mph (250 kph) winds. Downgraded to a tropical storm over south Georgia, it was weakening by the hour. But it’s still menacing the Southeast with heavy rains, winds and a threat of spinoff tornadoes